File Number: Tippy Top Secret
by Oxymora
Summary: A "Feather of Maat" sequel! It covers the untold story of the 24th chapter: Who was Skipper's father and why is Skipper trying to hide his identity?
1. Part 1: Farewell

Hello everyone once again!

Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt! (German Christmas poem for Children, meaning „Advent, Advent, a little flame is alight")

This is the sequel of "Feather of Maat" and therefore features not only the penguins and Marlene, but also Manfredi, Johnson, Freija-Solveig and some new OCs. And as it is a sequel, I kind of refer to what has happened in "Feather of Maat". You have three possibilities now: Remember it, re-read the old story (Chapter 15, for example), or wait for part two of this story. If I explain things now and here, then the suspense would be lost. The story itself takes place after the episode "The Penguin Who Loved Me". (My German beta-reader asked me this, so I want to add it here: The beginning is no real quote, because G.A. is the crazy auk they met in Copenhagen's sewer. It's related to Chapter 15 again.)

I am in a kind of writer's block at the moment and think that returning to a story which I wrote with a lot of motivation and joy might help to break down the walls keeping my fingers mute. But this is also a thank-you for all the readers out there. Recently I got a comment again and checked the statistics of my story... and I was overwhelmed with joy. When I started writing "Feather of Maat" I had never expected this. "File Number: Tippy Top Secret" is what I'd like to give you back as a thank you.

There are four parts and I'll update them every Advent Sunday. See it as a tiny Advent calendar. ;)

Enjoy it!

Yours Oxymora

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Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of PoM

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**Part 1: Farewell**

A not so long time ago the world was divided into two major ideologies, and everyone believed his way was the right and should be the only one. Heretofore developed weapons turned into luck under the circumstances, as their threat caused no blood-shedding and the war between those two sides stayed cold. It was the war of the spies, double agents, and defectors, who sounded out the enemy and caused the creativity of authors to run wild. However, the best stories remained untold and never saw the ink ribbon of a typewriter. They were simply too fantastic to be believed.

But now and then one of those old stories finds its way to surface, especially when hatred cannot be forgotten and fault cannot be forgiven.

- A life of war, by G.A.

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"Men, I am proud of you. We have come all this way to today; survived blizzards in Antarctica, rescued hippies from Madagascar and from crazy animal control officers – I'm not so sure whether this is an achievement though – defeated mad dolphins, two-faced puffins and mammals, diabolic children and cuckoo Officer X, vicious as well as dump squirrels, news reporters and aliens; we survived our crazy lemur-neighbours... and even Kowalski's inventions."

Skipper added a break to give his words time to sink in. It was a special day and perhaps the last time he could tell his team how much they meant to him.

"But all good times come to an end... it is not a real end though; it is just a new chapter in our lives as soldiers, with new duties..."

Marlene looked up into the sky, past the US flag in her hand, above the penguin habitat in the Grand Central Zoo. It was late November, the days darkened very early already, at least they darkened as much as they could in the city that never sleeps, but there was still no snow expected. Everyone was preparing for Christmas and there were only a few cold- and rain-proofed visitors left in the zoo. Concentrating on them was Marlene's way of stopping her tears, but eventually her memory reviewed the events leading to this very day. Sure, it never had been easy with Skipper and the others, but they were her friends and she could not picture living without them. The zoo would never be the same again; she could only imagine it as calm, peaceful, and unbearable boring. That day, when the penguins return from a mission that appeared as crazy daily-life as any other, was the first time it occurred to her that life in the zoo would not continue forever without a change. It was the day of Dr. Blowhole's re-re-re-shelostcount-revenge and this time the penguins finally imprisoned him. It turned into Kowalski's greatest triumph and saddest day, while he proved his leading skills and lost Doris' love forever.

A silver, H-shaped metal on his chest was his reward for loyalty to his country. He was promoted to a captain and officially appointed to leader of his own team. Orders had arrived only a few days later and the ADM wanted Captain Kowalski and meanwhile Lance Corporal "Private" Tux to support an operation in South Africa. The time for the good-bye was short, but obviously Skipper wanted to make it as soppy as possible. After talking about their classified and even more classified operations, he started talking about his old teams.

The day had started quite normal for King Julien: A delicious morning smoothy prepared by Maurice, kick-Mort-as-far-as-possible exercises and some dance moves to stay in shape, and the daily survey of his self-declared kingdom. But then his eyes spotted something unpleasant, something that smelled like conspiracy.

"Maurice... MAURICE! What is this, eh?" he asked his right hand man and pointed in the direction of this matter.

"It seems like the penguins having some super official ceremony," the lemur suggested, looking at the fake-ice island in the middle of the penguin habitat. The three penguins stood chin-up, decorated-chest-out in front of their leader who gave a speech longer than anyone could endure. Marlene was standing slightly away from the others as the bannerman.

"It's surprisingly calm, if you mean that."

"That's not my King-Julien-flag!" He pulled an US flag with tiny Julien heads instead of stars out of nowhere and held in up. "Maurice, do something!"

"No outsider must know about the things I told you," Skipper continued, but was interrupted when Kowalski pointed at the otter.

"Skipper, you know that I was invited and that I am here, don't you?" Marlene remarked.

"Ehrm... I might have forgotten... never mind. As long as this information stays among non-mammals everything is save; one cannot trust mammals," he lowered his voice as if he expected to be eavesdropped on.

"She IS a mammal...,"Private remarked.

Skipper looked at Marlene startled, but then he remembered. "Oh... right. You are. Well. You've proven many times so far that you are a respectable penguin in the wrong body."

"Thank you... I guess...," she answered.

"Otherwise, we would have to...," he paused, and pulled from behind his back a bottle of ketchup. "... use our Amnesia spray!"

"You have Amnesia spray... in a ketchup bottle?" The next moment Marlene already regretted to have asked. She knew them long enough to know that this was a low case of weirdness when it came to her penguin-friends.

Kowalski stepped forward. "Of course! Where else should one put it? At first we had it in different fish conserves hidden in our food storage place, but Rico started eating it, but forgot about it instantly and kept on eating all of our fish supply."

Rico's mumbled answer sounded similar to: "Wasn't mine fault"

"Wait a second... isn't that the same bottle I had in my hand the other day when..." before Marlene was able to get into rage, a female voice shouted: "Careful, Skip! The enemy is onto you!"

Black and white feathers scattered in all directions, when something hit Skipper. He went down, without any of the penguins being able to notice what had hit their leader. Only when the intruder stood up, they recognised her.

"Freija-Solveig!" they shouted surprised. It had been one and a half years, since they had met the tough and beautiful head of the Danish Penguin Academy in Copenhagen. And only seconds later two other familiar, long-time-not-seen faces appeared on the scene: Manfredi and Johnson. They positioned themselves in front of Freija-Solveig and Skipper, while latter was pushed down to the ground by the lady-penguin.

"Yes... yes... hello to you too. Let's save this for later, because there is something important. Have you seen a sable here? Looks remotely like her," she pointed at Marlene, "but more vicious."

"Fre..." Skipper tried, but was stopped immediately by the female, who held his beak. "Not now, Skip."

The unexpected visitors did not wait for an answer from the New York Citizen friends, but immediately looked and sounded out the situation. Even with combined forces, they spotted nothing suspicious and after they were told that no stranger had been around, they eased a little bit.

"I can always build a sable detector", stated Kowalski and pulled a toolbox from behind his back. "How long can Skipper..."

"Thank you, Kowalski. But I think he'll find a way to avoid detection", marked Manfredi. "We have to keep an open eye."

"Hold still, Skip. This is important. I could have sworn he had been..."

"You should let him go, otherwise you finish our job. And I hate when someone else does my job. It leaves me... jobless", a deep voice with Russian accent said from behind the female soldier.

By a reflex Freija-Solveig looked down at the leader first. He still tried to gesticulate that she was holding him down at his throat, what nearly caused him suffocation. She removed her wing fast, when her mind finally caught up. She hurled immediately around to hit her enemy, but he simply blocked her wing with his paw. Everyone except for the tall Manfredi was at least one head smaller than the stranger that looked now into the lady-penguins deep blue eyes. "You did a big mistake coming here. This is none of your business."

"Oh, you have no idea!"She shoved him a little bit away. On the expression that flickered shortly over her face, one could read that she had expected more to happen. But although he was in advantage, no smile strayed onto his snout.

"Skipper, get out of here!" Menfredi shouted. "You are in grave danger! He is here to kill you!"

He and Johnson were forming together with Freija-Solveig a wall between the brown, muscular sable and their friend, who finally managed to stand up.

"If he is here to kill me, he has to step in line. There are a lot of enemies out there who have the same wish. And I've never cut and run", Skipper said, pushing his friends aside and placed himself in front of the stranger. "Who are you and what is your business with me?"

"I am glad to hear this. My name is Sergej and as you can hear I'm Russian. I am working for Ilka, Ilka Sokolow. Your body language tells me you know about my business now." He put his paw behind his back. It caused everybody except for Skipper, who stood still, and Marlene, who moved back, to approach the sable. He grunted. "I find it fascinating that you still expect me to ambush you. If I had planned to do that, you all would be dead by now."

Instead of a weapon he produced a letter from behind his back. "This is an invitation letter. Ilka wants to duel you. Just the two of you. An affaire d'honneur, as the French say, to redeem his father's honour. No one else must interfere."

Skipper eyed the envelope. There was a name written of it, but no one was able to read it, as the leader placed – intentionally or not – his wing just above it.

"Letter opener", he ordered and Rico regurgitated a small knife in the shape of a katana. "Thanks."

He cut open the upper side and took out a piece of paper. He read it carefully and put it back inside.

"Quite old-fashioned, isn't it?" he said.

"I'm not in the position to judge it. I'm only the delivery boy," was the response. "What is your answer?"

"I accept. I shall be there."

"Good. As I said, I'm glad to hear that. In this way we do not have kill to innocent people."

"What do you mean by this?" Kowalski asked, joining the front row. "We won't let anything happen to anyone!"

"Correct!" Private confirmed and Rico grunted agreeing.

Sergej appeared not very impressed by this. "We know that this zoo is dear to Skipper, therefore we take it as hostage and if Skipper does not follow the deal, we feel forced to... well, you will see... if necessary..."

"THE WHOLE ZOO?" Marlene shouted.

"MY KINGDOM?"

They turned around to see King Julien. "This place is under my protection! No one does anything to it... except for my kingliness."

Freija-Solveig rolled her eyes and wanted to pull the lemur out of the situation before he got himself into bigger troubles than he already was in. But Sergej's missing reply made her stopped. Instead he was just eyeing the strange creature.

"Who are you?" he asked finally. "And... what are you?"

Maurice cleared his throat and started as it was written down in his job-description: "Presenting your Royal Highness, the illustrious ring tail lemur King Julien XIII, self proclaimed Lord of the Lemurs, King of Madagascar, Africa, and New York City, etcetera, etcetera, hurray everybody." The mouse lemur hoorayed.

"Ring-Tail," Skipper facepalmed. "Get out of here..."

"Why?" Sergej chuckled, which caused Skipper and Freija-Solveig to exchange puzzled glances. "I think he should be your assistant."

"But... but...," the leader tried, but was interrupted by Julien: "I am no one's assistant! People assist me, as I am the king."

The penguin was already about to breathe out in relief, when the sable tossed in: "In a duel, the assistant – the coach – is the most important man for the dueller. He keeps the rules tight, and who if not the king is capable of keeping people _walking the line_, as you say here in US."

"But... but...," Skipper started again. However, it was enough to soft-soap Julien and he agreed: "No buts, silly penguin. I shall be your as... rule-keeper. A king is always there for his people, and who else than me could be capable of taking this heavy load."

"Perfect. I have to leave now and prepare for tomorrow," the sable said and first turned to Skipper alone to say, "Sjáumst á morgun, svikarison." Then he turned to King Julien and his face expression switched from stone to a soft smile: "And see you, handsome." He moved back and disappeared into the water.

Skipper was too confused to answer. It was Freija-Solveig who spoke first: "Did he just... flirt... with..." She could not say it, but pointed at the ring-tail lemur.

"Handsome... Add that to my introduction, Maurice," Julien said without realising why the sable had said it. "And for what do you need me as an assistant, less-handsome penguin?"

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End of "Part 1 – Farewell"

Do you know this situation when your characters start doing something you actually didn't plan or want them to do? I never plan that my characters fall in love... it just happens (like Freija-Solveig and Manfredi). I added the lemurs to the original version of this chapter and the very second Sergej and Julien met, Sergej was head over heels in love. And no, Sergej didn't talk Russian. I won't say more, because... spoilers. (Yes, someone watched too much Dr. Who recently.)

Have a nice week everyone!


	2. Part 2: A stormy night

Hello Dear readers,

I wish you a happy New Year! Even if it's a little late already.

I am... something that I'm not allowed to type here if I don't want to chance the rating of the story. Work and birthdays and sickness flushed me away and I totally ran into the problem not being able to finish the chapters. I am incredible sorry!

But I finish the story, don't worry.

No, I won't go slash, but not because I have a problem with gays, but simply, because Julien is not gay. Yet, I love teasing characters in stories. :D

You'll encounter a rather unknown, but very useful sign in this chapter:‽ Also known (or rather not) as 'interrobang'. I came across the interrobang and the sacastrophe lately and I think they are very useful and I plan to use them from now on. Spread the word! Make them famous!

And as usual enjoy the chapter! ^.^

Your Oxymora

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**Part 2: A stormy night**

After Julien's question, nearly everyone in the group gave Skipper an inquiring look. However, he shirked from them by staring at the ground and crumpled the letter with his wing. The leader was famous – or infamous, depending on the viewer – of keeping his business classified, but now circumstances forced him to change this attitude, at least that was what they thought. Yet, Freija-Solveig knew that this was the only mystery in Skipper's life which was even more secret than her brother's felony. It was one of the most profound secrets inside the ADM, and only her parents, she herself, and Skipper's supervisor at the ADM were ever told about Skipper's family. All to keep him save; but now the secret was lifted. She had not had the chance to tell him, but she carried most of the burden for this disaster.

To compensate for her mistake, she wanted to help Skipper keeping the others out of the business and away from the danger. But, as no penguin is allowed to swim alone, she had come to the US with a team. However, her intensions had never been to include the others into the mission.

"Skipper. Let us talk," Freija-Solveig said then.

"Wait... what is with us?" Marlene asked.

"You can't exclude us from this!" Private added.

Freija-Solveig sighed. They were as stubborn as their leader. "You need not to know. I am very sorry, but this is tip top secret."

"Not anymore, as it seems," Kowalski remarked. "The sable and his colleague are for sure not the only ones who came here. You cannot go against all of them alone!"

Rico nodded to show that he agreed with his friends.

"Men, I know you want to help me. But I simply cannot tell you. Not only does this bring you in grave danger, but also... you... your whole opinion of me will be changed," Skipper explained finally. They all looked at him without saying a word, while he continuously avoided any eye-contact. Yet, he could feel their worried and not-understanding glances.

Johnson was the first to answer: "I don't know what you are talking about. We all got to know a caring leader, colleague and friend, who never let his men or friends down. I think I can speak here in the name of all of us: You are Skipper. We will always help you," Johnson answered without realising yet how perfect he had chosen his words.

Freija-Solveig shook her head: "You don't understand, Johnson. Neither do the others."

"I don't know why you think that you know more about Skipper or why you have the only right to help him. You don't understand. We are friends of Skipper, just as you are," said Marlene. The female penguin had an answer on her peak already, but no time to speak it out loud.

"Maurice?" King Julien posed and waited for his subject to equip him with a base-ball cap, a whistle, and a handbag with a carriage emblem and COACH written on it. Then he addressed his kingly words to the group: "I'm the coach now, crazy-feet lady. So move aside." Mort aped 'crazy-feet lady', while the self-declared king shooed Freija-Solveig, leaving her behind with an unbelieving expression on her face.

"Did he just call me crazy-feet lady?" Freija-Solveig asked. "Why? What is wrong with my feet?"

Manfredi smirked. Due to the early death of her parents and her duties as the head of a whole academy, she had a rather manly attitude. But when the feedback on her looks was not positive, she answered to stereotypical women behaviour.

"Nothing is wrong with them, my dear," he lowered his voice and whispered into her ear. "He is still jealous of your dancing skills."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course," he gave her the warm smile she loved so much.

Kowalski looked at the happy couple with a sad glance and rubbed unnoticed the feathers where he had the Doris-tattoo.

All three were pulled back to the goings-on, when King Julien placed himself into the middle of the group. "Let me tell you, frowny penguin, you have to give your best at this. And you can only do this with your team and friends supporting you!"

Skipper looked at him somewhat puzzled. He had expected anything, but a couple of wise words.

"This is what my mother told me, when I became the king," he explained, but fell suddenly in a deeply sad mood and hugged the lady handbag. "Mommy..." As swiftly as he had entered the emotional pit he snapped out of it and said melodramatically: "And most importantly: I thought I was your BFF!"

"BFF‽ Skipper?"Manfredi could not suppress a smile.

"That's a long story..." was the leader's response as he did not want to tell the whole story about how Julien helped them to defeat Dr. Blowhole.

"It is decided then, right?" asked Kowalski. "Rico..."

The penguin nodded and regurgitated a smoke bomb. Skipper noticed a short pain in his neck and while he lost control of his senses, he thought: "They learned finally how to overcome me."

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Skipper woke up. At first he had no idea what had happened, why his head ached and most importantly, why he was bound to a chair. Then his memories came back and he eyed the headquarters he was back in. Next to him was Freija-Solveig – also bound to a chair and still unconsciousness.

"This is not right!" Skipper could hear Private's protest from behind his back.

It was Kowalski who answered: "I know. I still don't like that Rico and I had to sedate them and get the letter, but there was no other way! For sure there is some hint about Skipper's family in this letter. And as we were afraid they would act the moment they gain conscious, we also had to tie them up. I really don't like this."

The penguin leader closed his wing to feel whether the letter was still there. Of course it was not. He turned his head towards Freija-Solveig, but she was still asleep.

Then he asked aloud: "You really want to stick your noses into my business?" His friends jumped surprised behind him.

"Sk... Skipper. You are awake... already?" Kowalski wondered.

"Perfect!" It was Marlene and she also appeared in front of Skipper. "Now you listen and we won't untie you until your pighead understood it! We won't let you go off on your own. Both Johnson and Julien gave you quite the talk, and Kowalski and the guys decided to unravel the secret without your compliance. But Private and I don't like the idea. I don't know what happened in your past, but it is your _past_. This is now and here. And we won't let you run away once again! Do you understand that?"

"Are you finished?" was Skipper's respond.

"Don't be such a... what?" Marlene was taken by surprise. "Well, yes."

"Good. Untie me so that we can talk."

"You mean to talk about this duel?"

"Hurry up! We are losing a lot of time right now!"

She looked at Kowalski, who was already behind his former leader and unfixed the bonds. A last time Skipper checked on Freija-Solveig, before he turned towards his friends. She appeared unconscious and he thanked for it. She reminded him too much of how he should acted, but he had planned to go against every rational decision and let his friends in on this secret. Additionally, the two objects he had found inside the letter meant that she had not followed his wish. Otherwise the whole story would have never resurfaced.

"Attached to the letter you can find a mini disc. Listen to them," Skipper explained and pointed at the envelope, that they had taken from him.

Kowalski took the envelope away from Rico and removed the letter with the mini disc. "Before we listen to this, I have a question. Since our way back from Denmark, I wanted to ask you this and now I think my suspicion is confirmed. Are you...?" He paused.

Skipper looked with a very sad and tired expression at his former first man. He nodded. "You want to ask me whether I am Einar."

The penguins jumped with fright.

"Don't tell me..." Manfredi grabbed his former leader by his shoulders.

"Tell ME! What does that mean?" Marlene looked quizzically from Skipper to Kowalski. The lemurs were just as clueless as she was.

Johnson delayed the answer and asked instead: "But I thought your family name was Grant!" Manfredi moved backwards and agreed.

"That's my mother's maiden name. I adopted the surname when I arrived in Denmark, but later on I never used it except for my personal file."

A few meters behind Skipper a not as-unconscious-as-thought Freija-Solveig thought by herself: "So you gonna tell them..."

Skipper took a deep breath, before he continued: "My full name is Einar 'Skipper' Grant Erlendursson."

It hit the penguins like an icy wind in winter. The penguin leader himself wondered how unfamiliar the name sounded to him. It had been years since he last heard it; enough time to forget it.

"I still don't understand," remarked Marlene.

Kowalski was the first to find words and explained: "You remember when we were in the sewer under Copenhagen and met the great auk called G.A.? He told us about the penguins-traitor-Nr-One, who caused the almost-defeat of the ADM and the death of Igor Sokolow, a leading politician of the _Svoboda Medvedy Armiya_, in English Freedom Bear Army. "

"Yes, now that you mention it. And... this person is your father?" She turned to Skipper and saw him nodding.

"Wow, that is something," remarked Maurice.

"No surprise you are always so grumpy. I know how we deal with traitors... but are you really trustworthy then?" asked Julien coming close to Skipper and looked deep into his eyes, as if it was written on his pupil. "Do you know that your eyes' rainbow looks like the sea?"

"Ring-tail..." Skipper pushed the lemur away. "On this disc is a message of Erlendur's colleague to my mother. We had to leave everything behind when we escaped from our family house on Iceland. You can play the disc; it is everything that is left from the first year of my life and I thought it had been destroyed."

He looked back at Freija-Solveig, who flinched. He was not surprised that she was awake, but let her pretend to be unconscious. It had been her task to destroy the letter and the disc in order to avoid the very situation. Due to sentimental reasons she had not fulfilled it.

"Don't you understand now why I wanted the only memento of my mother to be destroyed?" Skipper asked Freija-Solveig in his thoughts.

Meanwhile Kowalski had entered the mini-disc into their player and started it.

After two seconds an unfamiliar voice with a rather harsh accent started to talk:

"_Dear Caitlin, _

_We had some difficult times in the past, but I need you to believe every single word I tell you in this letter. It is vital to your survival, and if you do not want to act for your own sake, at least take action for your son. It won't be easy for you and you might take it for one of my tricks, but I swear on the Bible and to God's name. My heart bleeds for you. What has happened between you, Erlendur and me is pointless; all I want is to see you being saved. _

_G.A. and I went deeper into the investigation and my fear proved reasonable. It is Erlendur. We try to stop him, but I think he also plans to harm the _Svoboda Medvedy Armiya_. If we do not succeed and they find out about him, they will come for you. You are not save on Iceland._

_There is a boat on the beach, at the place where we met for the first time. I asked a friend to pick you up from there and take you to Denmark. The head of the Royal Danish Army Officer Academy is willing to help you. He is an old friend of mine. You can trust him. He can offer you a protection programme there. Don't try to get home to US. There is no time. The letter is a charter to enter Denmark._

_I hope the letter arrives in time. Live a long life._

_Your Guthmundur_"

"I still remember how my mother rushed to the beach and we escaped. Guthmundur risked the whole mission by sending this letter to my mother. They were too late to stop the assassination of Igor, and Guthmundur died during the mission, but G.A. captured Erlendur red handed. This was only a day before the letter arrived, as we lived at a quiet place in the north, called Siglufjörður. I still remember the horror of that night. We could hear the polar bears running wild in front of our house when we were already on the sea. Luckily they noticed too late that we had left and they couldn't follow us," Skipper ended the story.


End file.
